


Into the New World

by blindedstarlight



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humour, ffxv fanfiction, i might actually expand on this concept i kinda like where its going lol, mermaid au, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2019-11-09 07:04:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17997155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blindedstarlight/pseuds/blindedstarlight
Summary: You're lured into the sea, and you're as good as dead until a cute, excited merman by the name of Prompto irreversibly morphs his tail into legs and saves your life.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First actual request of 2019 filled! :) About time, huh? I'm on Tumblr, but I'm mostly gonna focus on posting on AO3 now because it's just more convenient for me :) But if you wanna check my tumblr out it's here: blindedstarlight.tumblr.com :)

Summer was often boring for you. Cooped up inside for most of the season to avoid the harmful rays of the sun, you missed out on the spontaneity of summer’s seemingly countless days. Still, you found plenty of solace indoors— the peace was a relief after a year of chatter and meaningless words thrown between colleagues both at university and work.

Silence was always such a good friend.

All that said, in retrospect, you weren’t quite sure why you were taking a stroll outside in the middle of the night alongside the hushed push and pull of the tides against the sands banks of the beach. Contrary to most people’s expectations, though you lived very close to the beach, you were hardly ever seen splayed amongst the rich yellow-gold tinted sands enjoying the heated atmosphere of the tropics your neighbourhood afforded you.

There was just something about the night that lured you outside. You needed the fresh air; even a homebody like you needed to get outside and just feel the world from time to time.

The moon was out in the clear night sky, and despite the humidity of the day long past, the evening cooled down with a pleasant breeze caressing your exposed skin, gently ruffling your hair along as you walked. You took in a deep breath, the brine tangy in scent, strong in a way you weren’t quite sure was good or bad.

You settled with a shrug of nonchalance to yourself as a small smile tugged up at the corners of your lips. Your eyes landed on the glistening waves of water ebbing on the surface; the sea as peaceful as it could possibly get. A stupid, exciting thought flitted through your mind, and your rationality seemed to have turned in much earlier than your sense of adventure for the night.

Your feet pulled you towards the water, and the pleasant coolness of the water washing over your toes and feet in a refreshing caress encouraged you further in. Before you knew it, you were already waist deep. Another few giddy moments passed you, and you were next deep in the water.

The grin on your face was unstoppable. Never before had you done something so reckless, but it felt incredible. You wondered why you hadn’t done this before.

And then, as your foot slipped under you, and the tides suddenly changed without giving you any notice, you realised why. You tried to gasp another lungful of air, but your mouth and nose were already well underneath the water. Your body refused to cooperate with your mind as you tried to relax enough to allow your body to roll into a natural back float.

It was no use, you found yourself caught in an unexpected rip, and the currents were dragging you further and further away from the shore.

The last thought you had before your world faded to black was that your parents had no idea you were out on the beach, and they probably wouldn’t even realise until the morning. In all that time, your body, and your soul, would most likely be far, far away.

Not the most cheerful thought.

When you next opened your eyes, you sputtered, lips briefly grazing against something soft before the soft thing was pulled away followed by a triumphant gasp,

“Oh my gosh! She lives!”

You coughed and allowed yourself to be pulled upright.

“Huh? What’s going on? Am I dead? I drowned, right?”

Confused, you blinked and tried to get your eyes back into focus. You wondered why heaven was so dark. You also wondered why you could still hear the ocean. That blasted thing looked so peaceful, and it was what had killed you— and it looked like you were stuck there for eternity—.

“Nooo,” you realised that a very amused male voice was addressing you. Turning your head his way, you blinked your eyes until they came back into focus. Even in the darkness, as the man came into focus, you couldn’t help but think the angel who had come to get you was very cute and handsome.

“No?” You asked.

He nodded.

“Yeah, I saved you. It was a pain; literally, but I’d do it again!” He trailed off with an embarrassed laugh. “I had to do that thing where I put my lips against yours and fill you with air. Where I’m from, we don’t need to worry about not being able to breathe under water.”

You furrowed your eyebrows at him.

“A pain huh? Sorry for the massive inconvenience then—!”

“Oh, no! No, no, no!” He raised his hands and shook them in time with his head, the gesture panicked as his eyes widened. Even in the dark, you could see they were light— most likely blue. His hair was light too; blond hair and blue eyes— like a cherubic angel; just without the pudge.

“No? What do you mean? You just said saving me was a pain!”

He smiled at you, a nervous laugh leaving him as he tried to explain himself. If you weren’t already feeling very offended, you would have found him extremely cute.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way, I just meant it, like, literally. Growing legs; very painful stuff my lady!”

You snorted. “You talk like you weren’t born with those,” you cast a glance at his tone legs, only to double back, and the stifle a scream when you realised that he was completely naked.

The young man’s eyes widened at your loud exclamation of surprise and he started forward, covering your mouth gently with his hand. He shook his head, eyes wide and urgent as he hushed you.

“Shhh, no one can see me. Or us. Together.”

You pushed his hand away with your own and shuffled away slightly to create some distance between the very naked cutie and yourself. You concentrated solely on his face as you spoke with him.

“Y-you…  _pervert_. Where the fuck did you lose your pants?”

“What are pants?” He looked at you, eyes wide with what seemed to be curiosity. You couldn’t believe what was happening; you were definitely dead. For sure— there was no other explanation for how bizarre things were getting.

You decided to humour him.

“The things you wear on your legs. To keep you warm, and stuff…”

“Oh. Those sound nice. It’s kinda cold out here. The water’s so much better, you know?” The way he spoke about water made it seem like he  _lived_  in the ocean.

You scoffed. “Maybe you should just get back in the water then, huh?”

The mood grew somber as he blinked at you. Even in the dark, you could pick up the tinge of defeat in his eyes.

“I’m not sure they’ll want me back now that I completed the morph…”

It was your turn to be puzzled.

“The morph?”

“Yeah,” he sighed, sounding sad. “Once mer-people grow legs, that’s it. Tail’s gone forever. I… I thought you’d take me home with you and we could live happily ever after on the land. I’ve heard a lot of things about the land— some good, and a lot of bad. But you don’t seem so bad. I just…” he trailed off with a sigh and shrugged his broad shoulders. Under the moonlight, his skin looked a beautiful alabaster.

Freckles, though… they were scattered all over his skin like pretty constellations.

“Wait,” you breathed, chest constricting as the bizarreness of the situation only grew with every word uttered by the pretty man, “ _mer-people_?”

He nodded slowly. And then he smiled a brilliant smile, dazzling you under the moonlight and leaving you almost breathless.

“I’m Prompto!” He waved, excitement back in his gestures.

You waved back, hand shaking slightly.

“Y/N…” you offered with a gulp. “Uh, and you’re saying that you  _grew_  legs where you had a  _tail_ and now you won’t be able to go back to the way you were?”

Prompto nodded, looking very eager.

“Yes! You get it! You get me!”

You offered a shaky smile in response.

“Barely getting it, to be honest.” You frowned suddenly and crossed your arms, looking at him reproachfully. “Why did you grow legs if you knew that your merpeople would shun you?”

He shrugged, having the decency to look bashful.

As bashful as a man waving his very sizeable junk around for all to see with no shame at all could be, at least.

“I didn’t want you to die—.”

“You barely  _know_  me!” you exclaimed softly.

You felt both touched and annoyed at his selflessness. You were the one being stupid; he didn’t have to ruin his life— whatever he was— to save yours.

“But I know why you were lured into the water! The Sirens!” Prompto shuddered.

You raised your eyebrows again.

“Those things are real?”

He nodded solemnly. “So real that you walked into the water and almost died.”

“And so you saved me because you didn’t want the sirens to…?”

Prompto shuddered and shook his head, eyes screwed shut. “Take your body and offer you to Leviathan as divine sacrifice.”

You nodded slowly, not getting it at all, but not wanting to push the topic.

All you knew was that you were in danger, Prompto saved your life, and now he was a cute naked man with nowhere to go.

You sighed and shrugged as you gestured for Prompto to follow you. Dragging your feet through the sand slowly, you reluctantly made your way towards the lost and found on the beach, abandoned for the day as everyone slumbered.

“C’mon, can’t take you home without some pants—.”

“Yay, pants! You’re such a nice princess!”

You snorted. “I’m not a princess. Now here,” you gestured at the lost and found bin, “grab a pair you like and I’ll sneak you home. My parents aren’t very switched on about me so they won’t notice you’re laying low in my room.” You glared at him and suddenly pointed at him gesturing at his nakedness with a pointed sternness you hadn’t known you were capable of until that very moment.

“And no funny business. You must wear pants in my presence, okay?”

Prompto nodded solemnly, though there was excited gratitude twinkling in his eyes. Under the lamp, you could see his eyes were a pretty cornflower blue.

“Okay! I’m so excited to wear pants! And see the land; wow! This is… wow!”

He exclaimed quietly the whole way home, marvelling at all the ordinary occurrences on the land that most took for granted. You couldn’t help but smile.

Meeting Prompto was random, but it was nice all the same.

A big part of you, deep inside, was hoping you could be the princess he had morphed for.

“Welcome to your new world, Prompto.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader sneaks Prompto home and asks him why he chose to save her when he knew that he could never go back home after the morph had been complete. She finds his answer hard to listen to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anon requested a Pt. 2 to this fic, so here it is :) Let me know if you're keen on a Pt. 3! :)

You managed to sneak the newly turned human into your room without issue from your slumbering family. Prompto’s eyes darted here and there, widening with every new artefact of his new world that he could drink in and commit to memory. He kept quiet, having already been told to be as quiet as he could muster once inside. Still, the excitement in every little expression of body language was enough for you to break into a small smile of your own.

You pointed at your bed and nodded to him. “Go on, take a seat.” You whispered.

Prompto shot you a grateful smile and let out a soft grunt of contentment as he finally relieved his newly morphed legs of his weight.

“So, this is a couch—!”

You stopped him short, barely able to contain your snort of laughter. “No, no— this is a bed—.”

“— oh! So I should be sleeping on this, right?”

The idea of giving up your bed from a strange man that claimed to be from the sea wasn’t exactly appealing. Having nearly drowned earlier, you wanted very much to bury yourself under your familiar warm covers and forget your near-death had ever even happened. You shook your head.

“No, you’re sleeping on the floor, man.”

Prompto frowned, more out of confusion than insult it seemed. “But the floor’s for walking, from what I heard from the guards. Besides, that’s not how it goes in the stories! The princess and the prince get married and then share a bed and then—,” he cut himself off before he could finish his stray thought; though you had an idea where he was going with his fairytale rambling.

In the light of your room, you could finally see his features with the clarity that you desired. He was handsome, even with the raging blush marring his alabaster skin. His freckles stood out starkly, a light caramel brown dusted like his own personal constellations across his nose and cheeks. Prompto’s features were angular and boyish, and there was no doubt in your mind that you had just snuck a very attractive merman-turned-human into your bedroom in the dead of the night.

Before your mind could go anywhere down the nearest gutter, you pushed your hands out in front of you and waved Prompto off madly. “Hell no, mermaid pal, dude, bro! No, no, no! There will be no bed sharing in this house; not with me anyway! Is that clear?!” Your tone bordered on hysterical on the basis of pure embarrassment. He seemed to share the awkward sentiment, and nodded so quickly you were worried he might develop a painful crick in his neck from the sudden sharp movement.

“Y-yes! Floors can be slept on too— got it!” He gulped and shot up right off the bed, back onto his feet with a wince. Guilt immediately flooded you, knowing full well that if he was serious about having just morphed into his true, irreversible human form just to be able to save your life, you probably  _did_  owe him a night in your bed as thanks.

“Which is why I’ll sleep on the floor,” you mumbled reluctantly. Gesturing to the bed, you took a step forward and gently shoved Prompto on the shoulder to teeter him off balance enough to fall back onto the comfy mattress. “Sit— sorry for freaking out. This is all so… weird?”

He nodded in solemn agreement, blush receding slightly as he turned his curious cornflower hues to the furnishings in your room. In all honesty, it was quite sparse and boring— containing your single-bed, a small bookshelf, a corner desk with your laptop and notebook sitting on it, and a tallboy with your clothes and knick-knacks stored inside. Still, Prompto drank it all in with enthusiasm.

“I getcha! It’s probably scary coming face to face with a creature you don’t know much about…” he looked sad as he spoke, avoiding your gaze as he focused his stare on your bookshelf. “But I don’t know if I can call myself a creature of the sea when I’ve completed the morph.” He sighed sadly, and you felt a pang of pity for the guy.

You slid your feet forward until you were at the edge of your bed. You turned and seated yourself beside Prompto, slowly as to give him time to tell you if he didn’t want you so near. As uncomfortable and embarrassed you were feeling about Prompto being in your room so unexpectedly, you felt much more sorry for him— already able to hear the homesickness in his soft spoken words.

“Hey uh,” you began, uncertainty colouring your words, “you mentioned the morph a few times.” You paused for a short moment, and he hummed in acknowledgement, tilting his face toward you with his eyebrow quirked inquisitively.

“Hm.”

You nodded and continued, feeling apprehensive as you fixed your stare to your knees.

“If you knew that you wouldn’t be able to go back after the morph was complete, then why did you do it?”

The question hung heavy for you, but his answer was so light and chirpy that you lost your train of thought for a few seconds at hearing it.

“To save you, of course!”

“But why? You don’t even know me!” You squeezed your eyes shut, feeling a headache coming on.

He hummed in acknowledgement beside you, almost like he was mulling over an age old song. “I didn’t want you to die. I just did what I thought was right.”

You forced yourself to face him, eyes fixed seriously on his glistening hues as you invoked the truth.

“And do you think it’s worth it?”

He blinked, as if bewildered, and then nodded slowly.

“You’re alive. So it’s worth it.”

You broke away from his gaze, unable to look at him as your confusion took over your entire capacity for rational thought. He didn’t make sense.

“But you might as well be dead. You know you’re hardly equipped to handle life outside the water, right? You’re going to be depending on me for everything, and investing my time on a whole other human being when I can hardly handle my own sad, pathetic life isn’t exactly the best option—.”

Prompto’s face fell. “Has it really been that bad for you? Are you okay?”

Something inside you erupted at the tone of concern in Prompto’s voice. Did he not understand that he was stuck in a whole new world, with no home, no friends, and no life skills to assist him with what everyone else born on the land took completely for granted on the daily?

Glaring, you seethed at him, not knowing how else you could convey the seriousness of what was going on in  _his_  life. “What the hell are you doing worrying about me when you’ve got yourself to worry about?! I’m not the one who’s important here—  _you are_!”

He frowned at you, demeanour clearly growing serious as he angled his body so that your knees were almost touching. The frown on his lips was deep, genuine sadness filling his eyes, dulling the previously bright blues.

It was strange; you didn’t think, in his perpetual show of excitement and nervousness thus far, that he had it in him to be so somber.

“Who said you weren’t important? It’s a good thing I’m here now— you need to be reminded that you  _are_  important. More often that you realise, I think—.”

“—  _will you stop it?!_ ” You hissed forcefully, attempting to keep your voice down as your temper soared. You didn’t like how he was treating you so… nicely without cause. It caused your defences to spike, and your walls to turn from sheer concrete to steel; all in an attempt to defend yourself from trusting the weird man wearing a random pair of pants from the lost-and-found bin at the beach. You shook your head and tore your eyes from him, unable to look at him anymore as your heart began to ache with hope.

It had been so long since you’d been told you were important. And in that, inadvertently made to feel that you, and your life, actually mattered. You wanted to believe this to be the truth— these strange words coming from this strange man who appeared from the ocean with your presumably limp body in tow just to give you another lease at life at the cost of his own.

“I’m sorry,” Prompto’s voice sounded thick, and alarmed by the heavy emotion, your head whipped to face him in a panic. You knew you were being caustic, and so very harsh with him, and that was part of the problem you had with yourself— you were so very unhappy with yourself for hurting people who were only trying to help in their own way. He sniffled and continued, “I didn’t mean to push it. I was just… I chose to help you, and I chose to leave my life behind to save yours. I don’t regret it, and that’s the truth.”

“Prompto…” you whispered, your throat tightening with emotion, unable to get your apology out.

Before you could even register what had happened, his hand was surprisingly cool against yours, and the reassuring squeeze he gave it was nothing short of comforting. You couldn’t help yourself as you looked up through your wet lashes, not having realised that you had begun to shed tears.

“Hey, it’s okay. I promise. Thank you for bringing me here— when the sun’s back out, I’ll be on my way.”

You found yourself shaking your head before you could make sense of why you thought to complete the gesture. And then your mouth opened, and words that you could barely register tumbled out of your mouth.

“You don’t have to go. I’ll explain it to my family. We have a spare bedroom. You can stay, I think?” You frowned, sniffling as you thought carefully about how your family would react to you having brought a strange young man into their home while they were asleep. Probably not very favourably, knowing them. You shot Prompto a pleading look. “Maybe, you can leave in the morning and come back with me once I’m finished with work later? And we can make up a story about you needing a place to crash?”

Prompto looked confused, but he still nodded, still squeezing your hand gently.

“Yeah, I can do that! Yeah!” His enthusiasm was back, and with it, your smile slowly trembled its way back to your lips.

“Yeah, okay. Yeah…” You gestured at the bed. “You should get to bed now, then. Big day for you tomorrow.”

He nodded, and stood up. It puzzled you when he just stood there, staring at the bed in confusion. You stood up beside him and frowned, moving to nudge him gently in the side with your elbow.

“What are you waiting for? Get in.”

He turned to you, utterly baffled as he shrugged his shoulders.

“But how? I’ve never used a bed before.” He giggled, sounding both embarrassed and somewhat exhilarated. You’d never seen someone so visibly excited about being in a bed before. Weird as it was, Prompto’s behaviour was also…  _endearing_.

You fought back an amused smirk as you pushed past him and tugged your covers back. Moving to fluff the pillows sufficiently, you stepped back and gestured for Prompto to get in. “Go on. I’ll tuck you in.”

“So I don’t fall out, right?” He sounded serious, so you decided to let him have this one.

“Exactly. Beds can be dangerous. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

He beamed at you. “Thanks Y/N! I’m so glad you’re the princess I saved!” He slipped himself under the covers, arms stiff at his sides, head comfortably placed on the pillow. He looked like he was ready to take-off on a rocket ship. Again, you fought a laugh back, and levelled him with a serious stare.

“I’m not a princess. You ready?”

He nodded, gulping nervously. “Sure. I hope I’m doing okay. It’s my first time on a bed.”

You let yourself smile, hoping you looked encouraging more than just amused.

“You’re going just fine. Good night Prom.”

His eyes widened at the nick name, and then he smiled, satisfied.

“Good night, Y/N.”

As you set up a make-shift bed for yourself on the floor near your desk, you took one final glance at Prompto. He was out like a light, a small smile teasing the corners of his lips, looking like an absolute angel.

You didn’t feel uncomfortable as you switched off the light and settled under your own covers on the floor. You felt safe with your saviour close by. You only hoped that you could help him settle into his new life above the sea, just as much as he’d helped you by letting you realise that maybe you were worth more than you realised.


End file.
